The Sony Vaio E Series is the latest addition to the Vaio laptop line, which feature Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processor. Available in 14″, 15.5″ and 17.3″ model with 5 distinct colors like blue(aqua), white, red, black and neon green and you can get it either with glossy or matte finish.

The Sony Vaio E Series that I got is the 14″ Aquablue (VPCEA16FA) model using an Intel Core i5 and ATI Mobility Radeon™ GPU, with a glossy finish. At first glance, you will immediately notice the Vaio logo and the glossy finish that will make you think it’s made of glass. Weighing more than 2 kg, the Sony Vaio E Series is heavier than most i5 laptop.

The edge if the laptop is peppered with ports, indicators and switch. On the left side, you will see the DC in port, RJ 45 (LAN), VGA, HDMI, eSATA port and the ExpressCard slow, while on the left side you will see the 3 USB 2.0 port and CD/DVD Writer Combo Drive, then at the front side you will see the Memory stick reader slot, SD card reader, WiFi’s switch (Yes! a Wifi Switch), charge and HD indicator, and on the far right end of your front panel is the headphone and mic jack.

The 14″ inches screen can produce a bright crisp videos, specially if you are watching DVD Movies and home made videos, it has a maximum screen resolution of 1366 x 768 making use of the ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 GPU. When using outdoors, the screen is prone to glare and has 8 levels of brightness that you can choose and has 4 different display mode, (computer, duplicate, extend and projector only). The unit also has Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 AGN, that supports Intel Wireless Display**.

The speaker is located above the keyboard and produces good quality audio specially if in the trebble department but the bass is somewhat missing. I usually use a headset when watching movies to avoid disturbing other people. :)

The Sony Vaio has a full sized keyboard and uses chiclet-type keys which is common on Sony Laptops, and are evenly spaced to accommodate people who have large hands. The unit has a matte textured and well-sized touch pad. Both buttons of the touchpad are glossy as well as the palm rest.

The Sony Vaio E is powered by Intel® Core™ i5-520M Processor 2.40 GHz that can go up to 2.93 GHz using Turbo Boost and the GPU used on this unit is the TI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 Graphics with 1 GB DDR3 dedicated RAM, which can be used for applications and games that require that graphics and computing power. The Sony Vaio E came with a 4 GB DDR3 RAM and is upgradable up to 8 GB, that can even boost the performance of the laptop.

Using the Sony Vaio E on battery only, you can get more than 2.5 hours on full charge of its VGP-BPS22A Lithium-ion battery, but the power consumption still depends on what program you are running and how you use the laptop.

The Windows Experience Index (WEI) gives you a low score of 5.9 for the RAM and HD, where the Processor receives the highest mark of 6.7 and the rest at 6.1.

Testing the overall performance of the Sony Vaio Series E, I installed Street Fighter IV and the enjoy every second of the game, then use Painter 11 and CorelDraw X5 which has high demand when it comes to graphics, the laptop did not even break a sweat. :)

The designer of Sony Vaio E wanted this laptop to be a “jack-of-all-trades” laptop which they achieved in flying colors, but my issue with the laptop is not with the hardware architecture but with the software.

First, the unit does not have a recovery disc, you will need to create your own recovery disc following the steps indicated in the documentation, then there’s the bundled software, they’re not even OEM but trial versions from 30 days to 60 days trial.

Here’s a list of the trial software:

• Microsoft® Office Professional 2007 60-Day Trial
• McAfee PC SecurityCenter 30-day Free Trial
• Webroot® Spy Sweeper® 90-day Free Trial
• Norton™ Online Backup 60-day Free Trial

Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) is the pre-installed OS for Sony Vaio E, and is well suited to properly manage the (2 cores, 4 threads) of Intel Corel i3 Processor, with a retail SR 4,599 (Saudi Riyals) or Php 55,700 (Retail price may differ, depending on where you will buy the laptop), I would have expected to have at least an OEM version of MS Office and at least a year free subcription for the security software.

You may need to shell out additional $$ in order to have a full version word processor and an anti-virus. For the complete specs, you can visit: Unboxing the Sony Vaio Series E. By the way, did I mention that the unit that I got has a bag. :)

For more information about Intel Wireless Display, you can visit: Intel® Wireless Display